"Bobby Hamilton Racing owner Lori Hamilton hopes a new partnership will return her team to victory lane for the first time since May 2005. "
Scenedaily.com
Lori Hamilton has made adjustments to Bobby Hamilton Racing in an effort to make the team more competitive. MICHAEL HELMAN / GETTY IMAGES
By Dave Rodman, NASCAR.COM
In the offseason, BHR owner Lori Hamilton announced that the team formed by her late husband -- 2004 Truck Series champion Bobby Hamilton -- would merge with a diverse group of Virginia racers, take on a new name and relocate to Martinsville, Va. Bobby Hamilton had been passionate about maintaining a championship-level race team in his hometown of Mt. Juliet, Tenn., but on Saturday during a break in Truck Series Preseason Thunder testing at Daytona International Speedway, his widow said discussions of moving the team to Virginia had begun in 2005 -- nearly two years before Hamilton passed from neck cancer in early January 2007.
"BHR was extremely successful where it was, in Mt. Juliet and Bobby's vision was that he wanted it to be in his hometown, but behind the scenes we had numerous meetings with Martinsville and Henry County about moving the team," Lori Hamilton said. "NASCAR obviously has a hub and it's convenient to be close to [it]. "Does that mean that your team will be more successful or not more successful because you're right down the road from it? No, not necessarily -- but I think it's going to help us in the vision that we have the group of people that we've assembled."
On Saturday, the team's drivers, Stacy Compton and Truck Series veteran Dennis Setzer; and the ownership group including Martinsville Speedway president Clay Campbell, Arrington Manufacturing head Joey Arrington, Lori Hamilton and S&M Brands' chief executive officer Mac Bailey sat down to explain the dream.
"One of the things BHR lacked last year was Bobby. So we had to fill those roles and help secure Bobby's vision for many years to come." Lori Hamilton
"The people we've surrounded ourselves with, you can see, come from all different aspects of NASCAR," Hamilton said. "We have the sponsor side with Mac, the track side; with Mark Melling we have someone who's been an owner and the racer [Compton and Arrington] over here. "One of the things BHR lacked last year was Bobby -- and Bobby wore those hats. So we had to fill those roles and help secure Bobby's vision for many years to come and the best way to do that was to surround ourselves with strength and power. "When you put a group of powerful people together, they'll help push Dodge back up to where they deserve to be, because [Dodge] backed us through some difficult times. So the key group of people that came from Tennessee are there, and they're excited about it. Change is good."
But there was a price. While Hamilton said that a number of key members of the team's competition department had transferred -- including crew chief Marcus Richmond and truck chiefs Jonathan Ellis and Todd Perryman -- others did not. Hamilton said that engineer Jeff White, another long-term BHR fixture who most recently served as crew chief on the team's No. 18 Dodge, didn't make the transfer due to family considerations; and has taken a position as team engineer with Baker-Curb Racing's Nationwide Series team, which is based in Nashville, Tenn. Kip McCord, who along with Bobby Hamilton could be considered one of "the faces" of long-term Nashville racing and who served BHR as both a team manager and crew chief, opted not to make the move, Hamilton said.
BY BOB POCKRASS, SCENEDAILY.COM
In its 10-year existence, BHR won the 2004 title with Bobby Hamilton and scored 19 race wins and 22 poles.
Lori Hamilton said Stacy Compton and Joey Arrington are in the shop daily working with her to organize the team.
"They're on the competition side and I'm more to the office," Hamilton said. "These racers, they don't follow budgets very well."
"As Bobby would say, it's just time to kick their butt," Joey Arrington
Motorsport.com
The newly reconstituted Bobby Hamilton Racing Virginia (BHR VA), with the full support of manufacturer Dodge, expects the year to be fruitful. Dodge, a three-time NASCAR Craftsman Truck Manufacturers' champion with 64 victories, hasn't seen Victory Lane since the late Hamilton won at Mansfield Motorsports Park in May 2005. As newly minted team co-owner, Joey Arrington had the final words.
"As Bobby would say, it's just time to kick their butt," he said.
It would be easy to do. As the 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series picture begins to come into focus teammates Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson are battling early for the championship. But Kyle remains in site of the leaders poised to strike should they stumble. On Sunday, behind Jimmie and Jeff finishing in fourth place was the familiar number five with the Kelloggs sponsorship. Consequently Busch sits fifth in the points standings.
Busch drove like a veteran saving his equipment on the small paperclip that is Martinsville. As the race ran down he moved up from sixth to fourth but the number 11 Fed Ex Chevy of Denny Hamlin proved too tough to pass as Hamlin finished third. "We had a pretty good car," Busch said. Earlier in the day his car had been loose in and tight off. But by the end of the race the Hendrick Motorsports team had that adjusted and the car was right. That's what Championship teams do.
If it were anyone other than Jeff Gordon behind him, Jimmie Johnson might have been toast in the final two laps of Sunday’s NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series Goody’s Cool Orange 500 at Martinsville Speedway. "The only way I could get by him was to wreck him, but he's my teammate and I tell you what, there's going to be some interesting racing going forward because he blocked me really bad," Jeff Gordon said. "I thought I had a chance at him a couple times, but he shut the door on me pretty good. ... He did exactly what he should have done.
Jimmie Johnson didn't feel like Gordon had held back at all. "I would have been wrecked with last year's car with hits that hard," Johnson said. But he doesn't expect any problems with Gordon because of the respect they have for each other and the relationship they have forged as teammates. "It's certainly something that we'll work out," Johnson said.
Johnson won Sunday because Gordon didn't wreck him. Or, perhaps, because Gordon couldn't wreck him, no matter how hard he tried. The distinction was difficult for either to draw after the second straight side-by-side drag race to the checkered flag in NASCAR's Nextel Cup Series.
Gordon chased Johnson for the final 50 laps, and you could see the finish building like the clouds that hung over the .526-mile had for much of the day. "I don't know how he could have hit me any harder," Johnson said of several raps Gordon gave him, capped by a thump through Turns 3 and 4 on the final lap that allowed Gordon to pull alongside. "I literally would put my head back against my seat and wait for it." Gordon knocked, but Johnson refused to open the door.
Johnson came off Turn 4 the last time on the outside and drifted left to crowd Gordon on their drag race to the finish. Johnson got there 65 one-thousandths of a second before Gordon to win for the third time this year and 26th time in his career. "I didn't want to wreck him," Gordon said. "That's why we finished second and not first. ... If there had been anybody else in second, he probably wouldn't have won." Gordon said Johnson drove "hard and aggressive, as he should have." "He did what he needed to do," Gordon said. "If the roles are reversed, though, I am going to do what I need to do to protect that spot as well."
Johnson wasn't sure Gordon cut him all that much slack. "I don't think I would have hit him as hard as many times trying to get by him," Johnson said.
Gordon confirmed this. “I had to wait until the last lap, and I hit him hard,” Gordon said. “I would have had to wreck him to win. I’m very disappointed we didn’t win because I really thought we should have. We had the faster car but the fastest car doesn't always win," he said. "Jimmie made his car very wide, and I tried to move him over but to no avail.
To be fair, Johnson's first remarks after the race were very p.c.,. “I’m speechless,” Johnson said. I grew up admiring Jeff Gordon and being able to win a race against him is a thrill to me. Jeff is somebody that I’ve looked up to even before I joined Hendrick Motorsports.
That’s about the hardest driving I’ve ever done. That was a class act by Jeff the way he raced me. I could see Jeff coming. I wanted to be on the bottom of the track, and I was giving him the high side. I was hoping he would take that. His car was awesome and I’m really impressed by the way he raced me.”
It seems that only after hearing some of Gordon's remarks that Johnson's tone changed. The bonds of the Hendrick Motorsports' team spirit have been strained to the breaking point, but so far manage to hold.
“When I see Jimmie, I’m going to congratulate him,” Gordon said. “I’m not mad at him. Like I said, he did what he had to do to win. Had I wrecked him, there would have been blame on me and it would have been an issue. We don’t need that as teammates going forward to try to win this championship.”
With private-equity investors reported to be hungry for the prize, DaimlerChrysler could net up to 9 billion euros for the sale of its US division Chrysler, a German newspaper said Saturday. Welt am Sonntag, releasing news to appear in its Sunday edition, quoted sources close to the negotiations as saying the sale could yield 'between 6 billion and 9 billion dollars,' well ahead of earlier estimates. The Goldman Sachs investment bank had earlier forecast bids would top out at around 6 billion euros. Private-equity firm Cerberus Capital Management lodged a bid for Chrysler on Friday, the newspaper said. Cerberus was reported to see the key value in Chrysler's financial services division.
Mike Skinner started on the pole and stayed out front virtually all day at Martinsville Speedway on Saturday, leading all but seven of 253 laps to win his third consecutive NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race. Coming off victories at California and Atlanta, Skinner set a series record by leading 246 laps and won for the 22nd time in his career. He became only the second driver in the series to win twice on the small, tight oval at Martinsville. "This was about as good as it gets right here," he said in Victory Lane.
Skinner beat Todd Bodine to the finish by 0.527 seconds after the 15th caution of the race brought about a two-lap dash to the finish in overtime. In all, the race went 253 laps, and 85 of them were run under a yellow flag because of numerous accidents. Each restart, however, only reinforced that Skinner's Toyota was the truck to beat. Series champion Bodine ran second in another Toyota, but never really challenged for the lead. "His truck was just incredibly strong the whole race," Bodine said. Skinner grew weary of the cautions, but appreciative of Bodine's style.
Mike Skinner had just secured the victory when his crew chief, Jeff Hensley, boomed over the radio: "We're going for No. 4 at Kansas." No rest for the dominating.
The win is Skinner's 22nd of his career. Ironically, Bodine was the last series driver to win three in a row, in the final three races of 2005. "That was cool, wasn't it? The thing just hauled butt all day," said Skinner, who leads the series standings by 94 points over Bodine. "I remember a couple years ago these Toyotas wouldn't run on short race tracks."
The only time Skinner didn't lead was during pit stops early. Even when Bodine used pit strategy to get better track position, he moved into second but couldn't close on Skinner.
Sterling Marlin is the only driver outside the top 35 in the 2006 owner point standings who has raced his way in to each of the first five events of the season. Next week's race at Martinsville Speedway will mark the first weekend that the 35 automatic berths are based on this year's owner points.
"It's great to get these first five events behind us," said Marlin, who is currently 29th in this year's owner point standings. "Slugger (Labbe - crew chief) and the guys have done a great job all year getting this Chevy dialed in so that we could secure starting spots and be competitive. My hats off to them."
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